When you feel it is time to fix the underlying causes of your condition or your child’s it’s an awesome day! It is so exciting and we often feel a sense of relief that we are FINALLY reaching an answer to what is wrong with us and we are turning a corner.
The Process & Reactions
We expect things to be smooth sailing from the start. After all we are eating great food, feeling better with some of our symptoms RIGHT AWAY. In the first few days to weeks, things really start looking up! It’s an amazing feeling and you know you did the right thing ….
THEN!
The Reactions (as we heal)
The hardest part is THIS right here. Often MANY time we find a lot of things that were “unknown” about food with you or your child. This is WHY you had the issues you had before you started. But you just didn’t know. So when these things pop up – they cause REACTIONS.
This is a NORMAL part of the process. It is THE REASON you are with a practitioner.
The Types of Reactions
1- Digestive Reaction – this is what you would consider it to be and can be anywhere from minutes to days. Usually within the first 12 hours. This is something we look for as an indicator of food intolerance or something that might be inflammatory to you. It doesn’t mean the “food” itself is bad – it might be really healthy but for you it will not work. This is common and happens. It’s why we do nutritional therapy work. This could be running to the bathroom after a meal, cramping, diarrhea, indigestion, etc.
2- Sensitivity/Allergic-
Allergic – just as it sounds you have a full body allergic reaction to something you ate. It happens. It may or may not have been known. This requires medical attention and becomes a food that is never eaten again.
Sensitivity – something that is causing distress after eating it. It might be something that will never be tolerable, or something that is considered to be watched in the future. Possible reintroduction might be an option depending on the level of reaction and state of the body. But it just might be something that is intolerable to you.
3- HEALING Reaction
This often looks a lot like the symptoms are trying to get rid of. Or it might be general feelings of being unwell and this can occur weeks after protocol has been started.
This reaction I see most when clients are really starting to feel better and think they are “all done” or “almost there” with their goals. Sometimes there is a reintroduction or introduction of a food that then causes one of the above reactions. It can also be THE REACTION that you are trying to stop. This is usually when the body is doing the MOST change. It’s always right before the break through moments when it happens in my clients. BUT this reaction is the one that makes people feel helpless and they were not doing the right thing. It’s when byproducts of pathogen die off or you have other toxins overwhelming the bodies detox system.
What we do at that point is look at what might have been changed in the recent few weeks, and see if that needs adjusting. We look at the supplements to see if we need to adjust those if there are any. We minimize the symptoms, but we continue to work on fixing the underlying root cause.
What You Can Do About Reactions
1- Food journal – tracking daily food will help you and your practitioner narrow down problem foods you are eating or introduced. They will be able to see the timing of the reaction with the foods eaten. Food journals tell so much from feelings, to bowel movements and more. It is such an important tool for you to find your own trends, but for your practitioner to sort through your symptoms as well.
2- Follow the adjustments given by your practitioner – they will keep you on tract with adjustments in food or supplement. They will help you understand what is happening to the body at this point in time and when to expect a change in the symptom, or when certain aspects of the protocol just need to be let go of.
3- Continue with soothing foods and regimens –
Bone Broth – unless you have determined bone broth is your culprit – having a cup of bone broth a day is soothing. Especially for digestive reactions. This also helps with nutrients and balance in the body.
Hydration – Being sure you are fully hydrated every day is important. Half the body weight in ounces daily is recommended as a base. Coffee and other diuretic beverages will require more, working out and sweating and hot weather also would cause a higher need.
Rest & sleep – be sure you are getting the proper sleep daily. Taking down time and lowering stress is also key in keeping your body healthy and reactions lower. Of course some reactions cannot be helped, but maintaining overall health will help you and your practitioner sort through the cause and how to decrease and eliminate the symptoms.
The bottom line with the process is that it is a PROCESS. It is not something that happens quickly, and often can have unpleasant side effects as we learn about what works and what doesn’t work. But at the end of the day – you are removing the things causing these symptoms and problems in your life, and after time goes by it is worth feeling great every day!
Indigestion – The Dirty Word IN Digestion – What You Can Do to STOP It